Given its tapered tip and tail, the Kore 99 probably doesn’t care much about rocketing around on hardpack, but it has the good manners not to show it. Proof that it can handle the rigors of hard snow comes with the application of speed in increasingly heavy doses. (Note the nearly 9.0 average score for stability.) But the Kore 99’s proficiency on crispy corduroy is hardly the point; this ski was built for powder and its evil twin, crud. Not only is the Kore 99 palpably lighter than the norm, which reduces the power drain on the pilot, but its fairly straight midsection allows it to pivot more or less at will. This allows for the minor course corrections that are the difference between finding the freshies between the tracks and missing them. In a genre already well stocked with fall-line chargers, the Kore 99 provides an alternative snow feel.
The core that the Kore name is meant to call attention to is made from Koroyd, a synthetic honeycomb, and Karuba, a bantamweight wood often found in AT skis. Graphene is used in the tip and tail, making the extremities not only lighter, but inherently stronger and stiffer. This allows the center of the Kore 105 to bow more easily, a benefit when skiing on a surface that gives way when you press against it. You expect the Kore 105 to be light. But you don’t expect it be this strong. It smoothes out chunder that would treat most non-metal skis like a rented mule. Its relatively straight-waisted mid-body facilitates foot swiveling, a godsend in the trees where there’s neither time nor space to execute a carved turn. Its tapered tip isn’t itching to carve, either, but it can bank into a wind berm with the cornering confidence of a bobsled.
The Kore 117 looks the size of a life raft in a 189cm, but it steers easily despite its girth. The skier doesn’t feel its heft, only the ease it imparts by drifting like a putty knife, smearing over the choppy terrain. Mercifully, it doesn’t need a high edge angle to remain stable and even stays calm when running flat. Almost any Powder ski will help a lower skill skier survive; it takes a strong ski to satisfy an expert who intends to lay it over and charge the fall line. The Kore 117 is as exhilarating for experts as it is forgiving to those in need of forgiveness.
Sometimes it seems every new model in the Age of Lighter is Better is being made for some pixie who can’t bend a real ski. Put a big man who knows how to motivate down the hill on one of these weak reeds and it will fold like a $5 lawn chair. So it was interesting to read the comments of Corty Lawrence, a full-sized dude (and one of the best boot fitters of his, or any other, generation) when we pried him off the i.Speed Pro after several scorching runs. To compress Corty’s impressions into an aphorism Yoda might utter, “Total commitment yields total reward.” If you know where the accelerator is and aren’t afraid to stomp on it, you’re the target pro for the i.Speed Pro.
The i.Speed’s receptivity to arcing with a light rein masks a thoroughbred’s temperament that longs to charge the fall line. Only speed reveals its special skill: it responds to loading by slinging the ski forward, rather than popping off the snow and – perish the thought – losing continuous snow contact. The extra energy comes from piezoelectric fibers that stiffen the tail when stimulated by high-velocity vibrations. Matt Finnegan from Footloose cautions, “This ski isn’t for everyone. It’s very technical, but that being said, it’s technically rewarding.” The i.Speed makes a better mogul manipulator than you might expect for ski with so much shape: the tip conforms to sudden terrain changes and the tail won’t wilt under any circumstances.
